In today’s world of competitive corporate culture, it is essential to find every advantage possible and put those advantages to good use. For those just emerging from college, entering the workforce can be a scary and potentially stressful period in one’s life. Ultimately, finding an employer who values your education, skills and potential is easier said than done.

Increasingly, students have been encouraged to pursue internships and fellowships prior to or immediately after graduating. Unfortunately, all too many of these internships are effective scams where interns do not gain valuable job experience and receive little to no pay whatsoever.

This begs the question: which fellowships and internships are actually worth your time? Today, we’ll look at a few examples that can actually be valuable opportunities.

Opportunities That Value Your Skill-Sets

Unfortunately, all too many entry-level jobs for many professional agencies and companies have been replaced by internships. Rather than providing graduates with vital job skills that will complement their education, these jobs often involve running errands, making coffee or otherwise doing menial work.

Regardless of pay or duration, any internship or fellowship worth your time will have concrete job responsibilities that relate to both the industry itself and your area of study. Always be sure to consult extensively before accepting an opportunity, to verify that this experience will actually be valuable to your long-term career ambitions.

Opportunities Where You Are Respected

Coming into a new company with its own culture and operations is always a bit intimidating. However, businesses that actually provide valuable opportunities to fresh faces make sure that their employees and environment are respectful of these interns.

If you have found yourself in a situation where your basic worth is essentially being called into question, then that is a good sign that you are not in a productive fellowship or internship. Ultimately, opportunities that are valuable provide their participants with meaningful tasks and responsibilities – which inevitably lead to your peers respecting you.

Opportunities That Provide Future Benefits

Many internships available these days are dead-end endeavors: you do some work for a company, get a notch on your resume, and eventually, leave.

Opportunities that provide the possibility for future accomplishment, however, are definitely worth exploring further. For instance, some fellowships and internships inevitably lead to offers to pursue additional education on the company’s dime – check out USA Scholarships for a list of long-term fellowships. Others might be willing to take a proactive role in securing you a future job with a reputable competitor if they cannot employ you in the short-term.

Ultimately, there should be something of value – something tangible – that originates from your efforts in an internship or fellowship with a professional company, firm or agency.

Because internships are a dime a dozen, you have many different choices and opportunities to consider. The inherent value of these programs has been diminished in recent years due to companies’ lax approach with them, opting to use them as temporary labor rather than meaningful opportunities for future employees.

Nevertheless, valuable opportunities still exist: those internships and fellowships that provide future benefits, respect while on the job, and an acknowledgment of your skill-sets are likely still worth your time.

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Thesis On The Economy

My view is that the American economy has major structural issues that will prevent it from legitimate real growth in the years ahead. Because of structural problems, politicians will react with political responses which will only do more harm and lead to inflation. Government cannot and will not fix the economic issues that are structural in nature. Only a liquidation of bad investment and market-based allocation of capital and resources into productive areas of the economy can get the economy growing again and thus lead to real job creation.

Thesis On Investing

Stock markets are unlikely to generate the return going forward that most investors expect. Buying and holding the broad market is not a wise strategy considering real economic growth over the next 30 years will likely look very different than the previous 30 years. I believe in stock picking and an emphasis on Dividend Stocks. I also believe the markets are manipulated to a certain degree via Wall Street schemes like high frequency trading and Federal Reserve easy monetary policy. It's important to factor in currency devaluation when determining real rate of return in stocks. I disagree with most mainstream financial planning advice in that you should passively invest in the broad market - this form of investing seeks to benefit Wall Street not you.

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A tough economic environment means it is difficult for the masses looking to do nothing more than be an employee. To prosper in this environment you have to be creative, innovative and willing to compete and work harder than your neighbor. I believe we're increasingly moving towards a time where more people work multiple jobs and make a living in a number of different ways - increasingly moving away from the era where a man works for a single company for an entire career. I believe in working hard to generate multiple streams of income and often discuss ways to make money online to achieve financial freedom.